EAST WHITELAND — When it comes to witnessing a downtick in road reconstruction and other transportation projects throughout the region and state, PennDOT Deputy Secretary for Planning Jim Ritzman says the eyes don’t lie.

“Our transportation improvement program has gradually dwindled in the amount of money we invest,” Ritzman said. “It’s gone down about 25 percent in the last four years, and the reason you see less activity is because we’re spending less money.”

At Friday’s Main Line Chamber of Commerce meeting at Penn State Great Valley in Malvern, Ritzman filled in for Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Barry Schoch, who had to cancel due to other obligations. Ritzman discussed Gov. Tom Corbett’s transportation plan that was unveiled last month.

Corbett’s plan starts with $510 million in transportation-related investments in its first year, and climbs to $1.8 billion in its fifth. The increase includes just under $1 billion more for state roads and bridges (up from $310 million), and over six times more spending on public transportation (from $40 million to $250 million).

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Ritzman said the primary goals of the program are to increase safety throughout the state, sustain interstate economic competitiveness, improve mobility and customer service, and create 50,000 jobs.

While Pennsylvania has cut its list of structurally-deficient bridges from 5,500 to around 4,400, roadway resurfacing has suffered as available cash has decreased in recent years. Ritzman said that in the early 1990s, PennDOT was completely redoing damaged roads at a rate of over 200 miles per year. Over the past two years, it’s been less than 50, as cheaper patchwork has had to suffice.

“You can call it painting over bad wood,” Ritzman said. “It looks good for a little while and it’ll get you through, but it isn’t how to deal with problems.”

The financial components of Corbett’s plan include a decrease in the flat tax portion of the state gas tax by nearly 17 percent, and gradual deregulation of the oil company franchise tax.

Among the changes that Pennsylvanians would notice most would be switching auto registration from annual to every two years, the elimination of registration stickers and having driver’s licenses last six years instead of four.

Ritzman said the state’s entire system has to be modernized, and more than 1,000 money-saving recommendations have come from PennDOT employees themselves.

“Sometimes it’s important to listen and really understand what the problems are,” Ritzman said. “Who knows what’s going on better than the people doing the work day in and day out?”

Ritzman said that while the state has suffered from transportation underfunding for decades, Corbett wants to change that while creating long-term certainty in transportation spending.

“Knowing that you have a revenue stream that’s consistent and sustainable, you can work a plan that makes a whole lot more sense than just grabbing the best that you can take in a given year and not knowing what the next year’s going to bring,” Ritzman said.

Ritzman said that state Sen. John Rafferty, R-44th of Collegeville, will introduce the legislation immediately after the Senate’s Easter break, the week of April 8. If the plan passes, it could be implemented by July 1.